Abolishing slavery was not Lincoln’s primary aim

Friday

Jan 6, 2017 at 6:06 PMJan 6, 2017 at 6:07 PM

To the editor:

There is no doubt that the greatest executive order ever given by a President was Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation that went into effect on Jan. 1, 1863; and his efforts to free slaves was monumental in getting the Thirteenth Amendment ratified to actually abolish slavery. Slavery was the worst thing one human being could do to another except for abortion.

“Emancipation Day celebrated this Sunday” was a good article written by the Daily News’ staff and appeared in the Dec. 31 edition of The Daily news recognizing this great event.

I’m not nitpicking on how long it’s been, but it’s 154 years instead of almost a century and a half. My questioning of this article has to do with a comment by NAACP President Donald Cohen Sr. who was quoted as saying: “He made freeing of the slaves a primary aim of the Civil War with this proclamation.”

So, the primary aim of the Civil War was made by President Lincoln more than a year and a half after the war started? I think President Lincoln’s real aim can be found in his own words in August 1862: “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and it is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that.”